Description:

Objective:

The objective of this research project is to
describe and interpret the interaction of people and place, in particular the
Mohawks of Akwesasne
and the St. Lawrence River, to ascertain the everyday routines of life along
the river and the symbolic representation of the river as an avenue for cultural
maintenance.

Approach:

This qualitative study is comprised of three primary
components. The first will include flexibly structured interviews with members
of the community
who can recall fishing on the St. Lawrence River prior to the construction
of the St. Lawrence Seaway (circa 1954), and those who ceased fishing by the
mid-1970s, as well as their adult family members. Such interviews would necessarily
focus on everyday routines on the river, family life during the fishing seasons,
communal harvesting, and the symbolic representations of the river reflecting
spiritual or cultural manifestations of Mohawk traditions. The second component
of the study will focus on the relationship between place and memory as a way
of contextualizing cultural and social practices, and the importance of collective
memory and oral traditions. Much of this component will be drawn from the interviews.
The third component of the study will focus on the historiography of the St.
Lawrence River to capture the Mohawk presence on the river and historical points
of convergence, or differing cultural interpretations of the landscape, existing
prior to and at the time of the Seaway's construction.

Expected Results:

Exploring the meaning of a threatened landscape—an
altered, subjugated place—creates an opportunity to assess attachments
and meaning to places as well as influences on a cultural epistemology intimately
tied to the environment and land.

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.